Woke up. Googled self. Found new review of latest release, but the reader spelled my name wrong – the J is not supposed to be capitalized! E-mailed publicist. Asked her to e-mail reader, force a retraction, and demand public apology. Refreshed review for an hour, waiting for correction and contrition. Finally went to Starbucks and […]

Woke up. Googled self. No new mentions or reviews. I hate everyone. Checked Twitter. Saw an author mention they are not enjoying a recently released book. Didn’t mention the title, but I just know she is talking about my book, because I haven’t seen her mention it on her Twitter stream before this. WHY DON’T […]

Woke up. Googled self. Found a “new” review on the twentieth search page. Written in 2008. How did I miss before? Copied and sent to publicist, with note that there might be more coming as I search through that blog’s archives. Remembered that it’s Tweet Day. Pulled up social media guidelines. Must not put readers […]

Woke up. Googled self. Found a new positive review. Sent quote on to publicist. Compiled all quotes ever received and sent to publicist. Just in case she lost the last quote. Cc’d to editor, and editor’s assistant. Bcc’d to self, in case they pretend they never received them later. I will know. Put the best […]

In the haiku thread that led to my new Bad Limerick Saturdays, there was a quick discussion of whether or not authors should respond to review. In general, my answer is “No” — unless there is an egregious error that needs to be pointed out, or one that leads to false expectations that would seriously […]

**For those on feed readers, this was originally posted at Odd Shots — I’m just updating the pics in the database, sorry!** In the past couple of weeks, I saw yet again another claim that romance novels were nothing but chick porn. I have to admit, the opinion of non-romance readers doesn’t really bother me […]

Step 1: On Friday night, a little after midnight, decide that you really want something to drink from the kitchen. Step 2: Get up from your desk where you’ve been writing and walk through the living room, where your husband is on the sofa, watching the Chicago-Boston game and eating grapes. Step 3: Make some […]

We talk about covers a lot on this blog, but a couple of conversations around the blogosphere this week reminded me that many readers don’t realize how many changes some covers go through before a final version is released. There are several reasons for those changes: the editors don’t like them, marketing doesn’t like them, […]

I know, I know. Mondays are supposed to be Nalini’s days, but the woman is currently gallivanting all over Europe, and so I volunteered her spot. And how lucky am I? Because today, Jill received her final cover for her debut release, GENTLEMEN PREFER SUCCUBI, and I get to show it off to you! Okay, […]

Note: This was originally published in 2005 on my old blog, but the fanfic from yesterday reminded me of it, and after some prompting from Maili (she didn’t have to prompt very hard) I decided to republish it, because you can never have too much action figure action. Part 1 is here. MELJEAN: So, here […]

Note: This was originally published in 2005 on my old blog, but the fanfic from yesterday reminded me of it, and after some prompting from Maili (she didn’t have to prompt very hard) I decided to republish it, because you can never have too much action figure action. The second part will go up tomorrow. […]

Friday is the post where (unless we have guests on the weekend) I send you off with something that will hopefully last you until Monday. And, by gosh, I’ll do my best. I present to you: Making Lemons: A Kate Daniels Graphic Fanfic. Yes, it’s just as bad as it sounds. So what are you […]

MISSY: I hate you. MELJEAN: What? What do you want me to do? You, my precious inner/former child, should learn to like the closet a bit better. MISSY: Die. MELJEAN: If I do that, then you’ll never see how Tender Rebel turns out. MISSY: It’s a romance, they end up happily-ever-after. MELJEAN: Oh, dear Missy. […]

Note: This was originally published in 2005 on my old blog, but the fanfic from yesterday reminded me of it, and after some prompting from Maili (she didn’t have to prompt very hard) I decided to republish it, because you can never have too much action figure action. Part 1 is here. MELJEAN: So, here […]

Note: This was originally published in 2005 on my old blog, but the fanfic from yesterday reminded me of it, and after some prompting from Maili (she didn’t have to prompt very hard) I decided to republish it, because you can never have too much action figure action. The second part will go up tomorrow. […]

Meljean: Last week on Twitter, a few of us were waxing nostalgic about Silhouette Shadows books — the category paranormal line that came out in the early- and mid-1990s — and it reminded me that I’ve been drafting this post for … well, almost a year now. Missy: Wait, wait! 1990s? As in … you […]

MISSY: I hate you. MELJEAN: What? What do you want me to do? You, my precious inner/former child, should learn to like the closet a bit better. MISSY: Die. MELJEAN: If I do that, then you’ll never see how Tender Rebel turns out. MISSY: It’s a romance, they end up happily-ever-after. MELJEAN: Oh, dear Missy. […]

MISSY: Ha ha! I did it! When stupid Meljean opened up the closet door looking for spiders to smash, I bonked her in the head with a boot! I’m free! I’m free! MELJEAN: **groan** …no…time…for you…must…write… MISSY: Shut up! I’ll kick you in the face, you meanie! I can’t believe you wrote a thing about […]

MELJEAN: Hmm…the site seems to be on the blink. MISSY: Oh, so this is your excuse for being late? You said you’d play with me yesterday. MELJEAN: Hehe. So I did. I admit it, I’m a dork. The only thing I worry about being late for is a deadline. Oh, and menstruating. That would be […]

MISSY: So, what’s this theory? MELJEAN: I’ll get to it in a second… MISSY: **scowls** You know, I hate it in suspense novels when the person with the theory is always like, “I know all the answers, but I’m not going to tell them yet!” Why? It makes no sense, except to prolong the idiocy […]

MELJEAN: How old are you now, kid? MISSY: Nine. And you are a liar. MELJEAN: Huh? MISSY: You said this was my first Silhouette Desire. It’s not. I read two before this one: Rare Breed by Janet Joyce and Through Laughter and Tears by Marie Nicole. MELJEAN: Oh, yeah! You read them in Auntie Joy’s […]

Okay, you guys — I apologize in advance for recycling old posts, but I’ve recently been reminded about Missy, and I’m thinking she needs to come out of the closet again. But — I also don’t know my schedule this week (methinks it will be one of THOSE weeks) so I’m taking the lazy way […]

Note: This was originally published in 2005 on my old blog, but the fanfic from yesterday reminded me of it, and after some prompting from Maili (she didn’t have to prompt very hard) I decided to republish it, because you can never have too much action figure action. Part 1 is here. MELJEAN: So, here […]

Note: This was originally published in 2005 on my old blog, but the fanfic from yesterday reminded me of it, and after some prompting from Maili (she didn’t have to prompt very hard) I decided to republish it, because you can never have too much action figure action. The second part will go up tomorrow. […]

I think in every reader’s life, we come across passages in writing that grab us emotionally, or that change something fundamental in the way we think or feel, or that we think are beautiful, or interesting, or hateful, or awful, or boring, or any number of responses. I know this has happened hundreds or thousands […]

Note: This is another repost from the old blog. It seemed time to bring it over (particularly since a 2am wandering post is a bit, um, wandering). “I don’t know why I brought you home,” Meljean muttered. “You know why.” The ruthless sneer the carrot cake gave her made her tremble with longing. “You want […]

This is for Cindy, because when I posted a link to this flag on her blog, I think the link didn’t work. And also because when I looked through my old blog to find the flag, I realized that He-Man wasn’t the only one drawing in tons of spam. So I’m slowly going to be […]

Okay, so I was checking out the search strings that lead people to my site, and I’m pleased that DEMON ANGEL and Meljean Brook (and Meljean Brooks) are among the top twenty. The other seventeen? All about He-Man. I kid you not. So, curious, I dropped by the old blog and checked out my He-Man […]

In my THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND post about â€œpantsingâ€ at The Good, The Bad, and the Unread, romblogreader had this question: As you progress through writing and revising your second and third novels, have you remained as much of a â€œpantserâ€ as you were for the first? Has the preliminary stage of writing changed […]

**originally posted here** AKA The blog entry on historical accuracy that doesn’t say anything you haven’t heard before, and is really more of a cry of despair and a rant and something else that I’m not sure how to talk about. So, I’ve got a part of this book set in 1217 England. My characters […]

**originally posted here** I couldn’t help but giggle as I listened to a group of students in the lab argue over the homoerotic nature of TOP GUN (if you don’t know about this, scroll down to see remarks when you follow this link — more is in the sidebar). But then I started thinking about […]

*Originally posted here* Between the discussions about realistic heroines on RTB, various blogs and SBTB I don’t have anything more to add, but something Candy mentioned in her review of Karen Ranney’s book, TO LOVE A SCOTTISH LORD, made me stop and go…whuh? Not because she was wrong, but because it was so true: Quote […]

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About Meljean

Meljean was born on a small farm in the country of Florin. Her favorite pasttimes were riding her horse and tormenting the farm boy who worked there. His name was Westley...but she never called him that.